LEGAL ETHICS AND RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS FOR LAW FIRMS Holland & Knight's Legal Profession Team provides the full range of services that lawyers, law firms, and corporate and governmental legal departments need to assure ethical and effective client representation. As seasoned attorneys in our field, we are ready to respond, either in a preventative mode or when particular issues need immediate attention. Team members have presented hundreds of legal ethics and risk management continuing legal education courses (CLEs) throughout the country. Experience has taught us that the best and most effective way to present to lawyers in private practice is to do so on a single-firm or single-practice group basis. This allows us to focus most directly and meaningfully on the issues of greatest concern to an individual firm or practice group and to do so confidentially. Because CLEs are presented in-house, we also keep lawyer travel time and disruption to a minimum. In addition, in-house CLEs make it easier to assess the material. We also customize our CLEs to fit a firm's needs, policies and practices, and a sample of the subjects we address include those listed below. Some of these topics overlap with others because different audiences may want different emphasis on the same subjects.
ENGAGEMENT AND CONFLICTS WAIVER LETTERS
There is no point at which lawyers are more in control of their own fate than when new clients and new matters are undertaken. This is when lawyers can control almost every aspect of the representation. It also is the point at which lawyers can avoid future problems by saying "no" to a potential client that doesn't meet specific criteria and by procuring conflicts waivers that may be difficult or impossible to obtain at a later time. Regular topics include: Drafting Engagement Letters as an Art and Science: What You Don't Ask for May Hurt You The Theory and Practice of Drafting Enforceable and Intelligent Conflicts Waiver Letters Litigation Funding
COMPETENT REPRESENTATION, LIMITING THE SCOPE OF REPRESENTATION AND UNBUNDLING Actual or alleged failures of the duty of competent representation lead to both claims of civil damages and bar complaints against lawyers. These risks can be increased by the failure to limit the scope of representation to work that a firm or lawyer is well equipped to handle. Related topics include: Contemporary Developments in the Law of Unbundling Documenting and Making Reasonable Limitations on Scope as a Means of Claims and Conflicts Avoidance Why Dabbling/Practicing Outside of One's Comfort Zone Can Be a Prescription for Disaster and What Firms Can Do About It
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Conflict of interest law is both nuanced and complex. It is also an area that lawyers often ignore as an impediment to business generation and out of a belief that nothing bad will happen on their watch. A solid understanding of conflict of interest law and the means to address or avoid conflicts can provide substantial opportunities for increased firm revenue and decreased risk. The topics that we address include: Concurrent and Former Client Conflicts, Both in General and in Specific Practice Contexts Identification and Treatment of Potential Clients as a Means of Avoiding Firmwide Disqualification Bringing and Responding to Disqualification Motions Lawyers as Fiduciaries and as Counsel for Fiduciaries
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